Conceptualizing the transformativeness of translanguaging: A spectrum perspective

Abstract

Abstract Translanguaging theory posits that bi/multilingual students have unitary, dynamic repertoires of communicative features and seeks to subvert monolingual norms and language standardization that perpetuate the marginalization of bi/multilingual learners. Yet, some argue that translanguaging research in education fails to live up to its transformative claims. Motivated by these ongoing debates, we conducted a systematic literature review of translanguaging research in US education spaces to explore if, how, and for whom translanguaging is transformative. Based on this analysis, we propose that the transformativeness of translanguaging in educational contexts exists along a spectrum: from recognition and inclusion (e.g., affirming students’ bi/multilingualism) to deconstruction and innovation (e.g., validating language “mixing” as legitimate bi/multilingual practice) to, finally, social critique and action (e.g., engaging in explicit justice‐oriented critique and action to challenge inequitable conditions). We contend that all of these categories denote transformation or transformative potential, albeit to varying scales and degrees. At the same time, given the relatively limited number of articles coded social critique and action, we call for more translanguaging‐in‐education research that embraces this more explicitly justice‐oriented praxis.

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